Back To The Track

[Mad Ax]

Hi all. I've decided to keep a blog to journal my return to carpet racing after an unintended sabbatical. The first few posts are going to be quite big, because I've got a lot to say, but once I've gone through the history of the last few weeks my posts will get a little shorter.

This first post is about how I decided to return to the carpet:

"I've had a call from the other guys." Said an ex racing team-mate and owner of my local hobby shop, over the telephone. "They want to put the old team back together. We're going racing again."

I'd called the shop with my credit card in my hand, to try to find something to build over the holidays. I was thinking a Grasshopper - always a good choice for a custom paint-job - or maybe a CC01, a fun build. Or perhaps the Scorcher that he's had on the top shelf for so long. But the excitement in his voice changed my mind.

"I'm in." I replied. Now I knew what to spend my Christmas money on.

This happened a couple of weeks before Christmas, but for the whole story, I have to take you a few years back, to when I started racing at the West Wilts Model Car Club. I started at my first meet with a base TT01, with only ball bearings and alloy propshaft upgrades, and a badly-painted Imprezza shell. It didn't even have oil shocks. But I didn't care. It was cheap, it ran well with the recommended Trinity Revenge of the Monster motor, and stuck to the club's carpet well with Parma foam tyres. So well, in fact, that it would grip-roll at almost every corner. But what fun!

"It's the most fun you can have without doing something your parents would disapprove of." I told my friends after my first season. In terms of points, it had been a disaster - near-last in every race, with a car that flipped and rolled more than it went forwards, but in terms of enjoyment, it had been more than I could have hoped for.

Weeks passed, and I kept on racing. I'd always intended to swap in the TT01 for something faster when I felt the time was right, and an old-stock Corally RDX came up just when I was starting to get itchy transmitter fingers. The RDX was in my hands for just a hundred and fifty beer tokens, and the following week was constructed and on the starting grid.

"You'll struggle with that." One of the more experienced racers said, as I unboxed my new ride and connected the battery. "One little knock and you have to reset everything."

"He's right." Somebody else added. "They're a pig to set up, too."

But the improvement over the TT01 was unbelievable. It actually drove in a straight line, and turned when I asked it to, not when the moons of Jupiter aligned into the shape of a Tamiya box-wrench, or a butterfly in China flapped its wings. It was great. My results started to improve, and before too long I was moved out of the novice heat with the rest of the TT01s and the junior novices, and into the level above. For a few weeks, I was in love with the RDX.

It was a love, however, that was not to last. My budget blown on the chassis, I didn't have any money for new battery packs. The RDX was designed to run with side-by-sides, but all I had were sticks. Wrapping the chassis in battery tape every week was frustrating. One little knock from another car and I'd lose the pack next corner. The graphite chassis offered little knock-protection to other internal components, and I started to lose receivers when things got close. Many times I was forced to retire from a race after I noticed my receiver being dragged alongside the shell by its servo cables.

The car started to suffer from my lack of experience - the doubters had been correct. Such a high-level chassis was too fragile for my ham-fisted amateur attempts at getting around a lap. I could never get it set up properly, and never found that wonderful balance that it had when it had its first outing.

I wasn't the only one suffering problems. Team-mates began to drop out due to lack of time. Eventually I lost the love, and stopped attending races, promising myself I'd go back as soon as I could afford some new battery packs, but it never happened. A short-lived attempt to return to racing after I moved house only reminded me that the RDX was not the car for me - too complex, too sensitive to setup, and not compatible with any of my metric tools and spare screws. Over the years the car got pushed to the back of the loft, and I forgot about all the fun I'd had at the club.

It was with these thoughts in my mind that I was dragged back to the present. "Hello? Are you still there?" Said the distant voice at the end of the telephone.

"Um, yeah. Count me in. I want back in the team. And I need a TA05."

To be continued...

Monday, 10th Jan rolls around, the dawn of the 2011 race season. I sit in my office, willing the hours to rush past quicker so I can drive 10 minutes down the road and sign on for my first race with the freshly-built TA05-IFS. I know it won't be plain sailing, but I'm itching to get back to the track. The TA05 is simpler than my old Corally, but I'll need to recalibrate my brain to its operation. The club now recommends rubber slicks over foamies, and all I have are the stock Tamiya items, which are probably not the best. I'm still using my old Trinity motor and a cheap MTroniks Eco27 speedo - but I don't care. The first night will be about learning the car, not winning races. The first championship will be about returning to form, not earning points.

I know I'll have to spend some money. I'll need some proper tyres, a brushless motor, and lipo packs. I'll probably need a new shell in a few weeks. I expect I'll found a thousand other things I want. But right now, I just want to race.

Five-thirty finally ticks around, and I leave the office to head straight to the venue. I'm plenty early, and the event organiser is the only other person there, unpacking his car. He's quick to fill me in on all that's changed since my last visit. Racing is now multi-class, with 1:10 touring and fwd M-chassis racing in the same heats, but competing in different championships, which should mix the heats up a little and provide an interesting challenge. It also made me consider inviting my girlfriend along to compete, since I recently bought her a 2nd-hand M03 Mini (which she's yet to paint and run!). A number of the fastest touring racers have switched to M-chassis, which opens up the touring class a little. LiPo power is becoming more popular but brushed motors are still in the majority, and the biggest (and most expensive) news is that the club no longer offers hand-out transponders. Racers now need to buy their own if they want to compete for championship points. An additional £55 for a compatible transponder on top of the expenses so far suffered is disappointing, but at least it means no more discounted laps and lost championship points thanks to ageing and failing transponder hardware. Fortunately the club loaned me a spare transponder, so at least I can get some timing data on my first event.

I also find out that the winter championship is half-way through, and there's not enough heats left to qualify, which means I'm racing for heat wins rather than championship points. It takes the pressure off a little, and means I have a few months to get back up to speed before I can start worrying about overall position. Furthermore, the first meet of every month is an endurance event, with teams assigned by the organisers (normally comprising one novice, one intermediate and one expert) and no championship points.

Once the tables and carpet are set up I set to grabbing some desk-space before it all disappears and unpack my gear. Car on stand, batteries stacked ready, grab a few last-minute photos of the unbeaten 350R shell before it gets demolished. I've got an Ansmann 4500mAH pack installed that I used to set up the radio the previous day; it's my biggest-capacity pack, and should be ideal to start the night.

I zip-tie the transponder onto the front bumper, then realise I'll have to unplug my motor fan to run it, as I don't have any spare Y-leads or take-offs on my Losi micro 2.4GHz receiver. The rest of the car is as close to set up as I can get it without a test-run, so I sit back and chat to a few of the lads while the track takes shape.

It looks technical. The top section is narrow and tight, a series of switch-backs that looks like it's designed to unsettle a flighty chassis and test everyone's turning circle. I quietly turn up the steering range on my transmitter to max. Others are taking to the stage for a practice, so I hook up the power and put my new car on the carpet. It's time to see how well it handles.

PRACTICE:

First thoughts of the TA05: awesome. The stock setup is really well balanced, and the brand-new Tamiya slicks, while a little slippery to begin with, quickly bed in. Turning circle is very tight at low speed, excellent for this twisty track - something the RDX would really have struggled with in standard set-up. Gearing feels too high for the tight track, however - I'm not hitting full RPM even on the straights and struggling for acceleration coming out of turns. Without a motor fan my poor old Monster motor will be cooking itself to death; oh well, it'll be a good excuse to go brushless if it dies before the night is out. I'm also glad that I didn't cut the body posts to the recommended length, because the front of the shell catches on some of the bigger ripples in the carpet, unsettling the front wheels. No bother, I pull over and jack the front of the shell up by one hole.

The car really doesn't feel very fast though, and after a few full-throttle laps I'm thinking that the motor must be tired. It's long overdue for a rebuild, perhaps I'd have been better throwing in some new brushes before I started. Then it cuts out altogether - motor and steering.

After a few seconds it comes back on. I give it some more beans. And it cuts out again.

There must be something wrong. Retrieve car from middle of track, run to workbench, remove shell - everything looks fine, no loose connections. Full-throttle with the wheels up is fine, even while wiggling wires and things. I put it back on the track and pull the trigger - car accelerates, then cuts out. Hmm. Back to workbench, remove shell, put hand in front of car and accelerate - ESC and receiver lights go off. Release throttle, ESC comes back on with a startup-flash. Oh. It would appear my Ansmann pack is dumping already. And that's my most powerful pack.

By the time I've switched to an old GP 3300mAH side-by-side pack, practice is finished. At least it'll spin up the wheels on the workbench with my hand holding it still, so I guess the Ansmann must need a few cycles to get it back up to strength - I haven't used any of my packs for a long time, and it must have registered a false peak on the basic ACX-1 that I'm still using for all my charging duties. Maybe I should forget about brushless and blow the budget on some LiPos and a new charging solution.

I've still got a few minutes while the organisers sort out the teams, so I decide to have a look at the gearing. Stock pinion has 22 teeth; I have a few spare pinions in my pit box, but most of them turn out to be the wrong pitch. All I've got that'll fit is an 18T and a 24T. Hmm, going from 22 down to 18 will probably be too much, but still, with suspect battery packs and a very tight track I decide that too low is better than too high, and opt for the 18T. Here's another thing I learnt about the TA05: it isn't quick to change a pinion. There's a handy cut-out in the chassis so it's easy to unscrew the motor with a long hex-wrench, but I've only got a handful of Tamiya hexes with me, so it's a fiddly operation to slacken the screws. It's then difficult to remove the pinion - you can't just unscrew the grub and slide it off like on other cars, because the belt channel is in the way. The motor screws have to be slackened almost until they're out before the pinion will wiggle off, and because I only have a short wrench, I can only slacken the bottom screw a half-turn at a time. An annoying and fiddly operation, especially as race-time is drawing near.

Another note about the TA05: the motor screws are in-line with the spur gear. That is, if you try to fit a really small pinion, the screws will foul the spur. The 18T pinion fits, but only just. If I was running a finer pitch then I might be struggling for clearance.

Teams were called almost as soon as I had the motor back in place. I hurriedly threw in the 3300 side-by-side and clipped on the shell and ran to take a look at the team sheets. I was to be racing alongside Darren, a friend from my old racing days and much more experienced at carpet racing than I, and Callum, a young lad in the Mini class. We picked a race order - Darren, Callum, then myself - and agreed we'd change at the whistle, which blows approximately every 5 minutes.

I walked to my marshalling post, and waited for the race to begin.

To be continued...

[Mad Ax]

RACE 1:

My first stint at marshalling duty flashes past in a blur of bashing polycarbonate as racers get the hang of the track, before Darren relieves me to go get set up for my track time. My car is assembled, powered and ready, so I have nothing to do but head to the pits and wait. There are plenty of younger racers and novices on the track, so it looks like a bit of a melee in places, and for a brief moment I regret entering in the endurance - my new shell is going to get smashed! But then I remember, it was built to race with a quick, simple paint-job. Racing isn't about having a nice shell.

The whistle blows. I switch on the car and put it in the pits, and climb up to the stage. "Ready when you are." I say to Callum, and watch as he brings his green Mini Cooper into the pits. We're on!

This is what I've been waiting for. This is why I spent all that money and half my Christmas holiday trimming flash off flexible plastic. This is racing!

For the first time all night, I really give it the beans. The chassis is great. The tyres are a little slippy, but it's precise - I can get enough spin into corners to get it facing the right way, and I can power out without losing control. I'm thoroughly pleased with my purchase. I stay out of trouble, concentrate on getting around cleanly, keep out of the way of faster cars and try to avoid getting tangled up in the novices' accidents. I'm happy with my progress, but not with my speed. The car doesn't feel fast.

Then I have an off, and have to wait for rescue. Back on track I give it full throttle, and it cuts out. Wait a second, try again, cut out again. It looks like my 33 pack is dumping early. I'm only a couple of minutes into my stint, and I don't know how long the battery will last. I can stay in the race, as long as I avoid accelerating hard out of corners - too much juice and the ESC powers off. I can't quit my sting early because Darren isn't in the pits yet - he's still setting up after his marshalling stint. This isn't going to be easy.

I keep going, concentrating now on driving as smoothly as possible. I have to take the twisty section on part-throttle; I can't throw it in and spin it up like before, because it puts too much load on the pack. I can still maintain a reasonable lap-time, as long as I stay out of trouble, but because my speed through the tight section is so much slower I can't keep out of the way of the Minis, who barrel through (often literally) and batter everything in their path. More and more often I find myself pushed into the barriers without the power to get up to speed again. By the time the whistle blows, I'm getting really frustrated, and I can't wait to get off the track and out of everyone's way.

RACE 2:

After my marshalling duties I get quickly to swapping out the dead pack for a fresh 33 side-by-side. I notice the wire on the dead pack is fairly frayed where it's soldered onto the cell - perhaps that's causing the false peak and/or failure to supply a big punch when needed. I'll have to worry about that later. For now, there's a race coming up.

New pack in, shell on, power on, quick test - motor runs, then cuts out. Er... That's not good. My fresh pack, recharged yesterday and unused tonight, is already dumping. I'm not doing well! I've only got one pack left - a 3700mAH stick. The whistle is blowing already, so I have to rush to swap the packs over and get to the pits. I find the TA05 battery strap a little fiddly - it seems to get stuck half-way on and needs a little twisting. I'm late getting to the pits, but Callum is still having fun, so I get myself set up and wait for his lap to finish. Then I'm off.

Wow! What a difference! The Monster is positively screaming in the straights, and there's enough punch in the turns to kick out the rear end. I'm thoroughly enjoying my race. I'm keeping up with the traffic, steering around the novice racers in the wider turns, keeping safely out of the way of the faster cars, and mostly avoiding the barriers.

And then disaster. It's coming to the end of my second stint when I run wide on the fast corner that leads into the main straight. I overcorrect to get back on line, turn hard into the chicane, and clip the barrier. The car spins, and stops facing the wrong way. I try to spin it around, but I can't get enough throttle to light up the rear. I try to reverse, but my cheap Eco27 speedo has a frustratingly slow pickup in reverse. The marshal rescues my car before I can turn it around. I'm back in the race, but it doesn't feel right.

Next time around, I spin out in the same place. It feels like the rear is too loose coming off the fast straight. Every time I go into a bend without a neutral throttle, the back end steps out and puts the car into a spin. It feels like reverse isn't working at all, so every time I spin I have to wait for rescue. By the time the whistle blows I'm wondering what could have gone wrong, and I'm really glad to pull the car into the pits and retire to the paddock.

The bottom of the chassis is seriously hot, so I fire up the stand-fan on the workbench and leave the car to cool while I rush to take my marshalling post and relieve Callum to prepare for his next stint. I definately need to get that motor fan hooked up before next week, or the motor is going to fry.

RACE 3:

As soon as my marshalling stint is over I head back to the workbench to see if I can figure out why the handling went off at the end of my second race. I can see a rear tyre has come partially off the rim - it seems like a logical explanation for the handling issue, so I pop it back on. I switch on the receiver, and immediately the wheels start to roll over. Looks like I must have knocked the trim on the TX, which explains why I couldn't find reverse. The whistle blows so I don't have time to reset the ESC - I just roll back the trim until the motor stops and head to the pits.

My third stint on the track unfolds almost the same as the closing laps of the second. The back end of the car is still loose, and it's unpredictable going into corners, especially the tight switch-back at the top of the main straight. Sometimes it'll spin out one way under braking, sometimes it'll spin the other way as I pick up the throttle. I find I'm driving a very careful race, and feel like I'm spending more time keeping out of the way of other cars than genuinely pushing for fast laps. I'm enjoying myself, but not as much as I was in the previous stint. I'm starting to wonder if something else is up with the car and if my lack of setup experience is going to be a problem even with a stock TA05-IFS. At the start of Race 2 I was feeling like I had some skill; now I feel like a complete novice. The pack holds up well despite running two races - it loses a little power as time ticks by, but my deliberately careful acceleration helps to save power as well as keeping the tail-happy car on the track. Only right at the very end of the stint does it start to feel sluggish. The whistle blows before the speedo starts cutting out.

RACE 4:

The big problem with enduro events is the lack of time in between races. A five-minute race is immediately followed by a five-minute marshalling stint, which in theory gives me five minutes to work on the car before the next stint, but somewhere in the chain some time seems to be lost. I know I've just emptied my last battery pack - another five-minute stint and it will be dumping in the middle of the track. Darren steps in and offers me a spare pack - a fully-charged balanced 5500mAh side-by-side pack. By the time I've got it fitted the whistle has blown, and I'm running to the pits. I accidentally pull the trigger as I run, and the wheels spin up. Well, the rear wheels do. The front right stays stationary, the front left turns a little. I can't see for sure, but I guess I'm missing a driveshaft.

Oh. Well, no time to stop now - the shaft must be somewhere on the track, and I don't have a spare, let alone any time to strip the car to fix it. I'll just have to go RWD.

Out on the track, the car is a donut-machine. The punch from the 5500 pack is awesome, but it's too much for the rear tyres, especially in a chassis balanced for 4WD traction. Well, I suppose a missing driveshaft would explain the handling problem I've had all night, and the lack of punch from my older pack has helped me keep it on the track all this time. The challenge of keeping the car on the track is strangely enjoyable, especially now I know what the problem is. I can keep it facing the right way as long as I can plan in advance, but encounters with other cars throw me off balance. Any sudden change of direction sends the car into a spin, as does the slightest tap from another car. I tangle with a few novices, and then with some faster cars. I manage to get in the way of the same fast car three laps in a row; my car is becoming a mobile chicane, and I'm spoiling other people's races. I'm relieved when the timing system calls out the last lap in its robot voice, and then the night is over.

POST-RACE STRIPDOWN:

The enduro event took a little over an hour to run, so I've got plenty of time before I have to pack up and go home. I decide to have a look at the front suspension, and notice that both driveshafts are still in place. Oops. That'll be a badly-assembled ball-diff, then!

Nobody is making a rush to pack away the tables, so I strip down the front-end and reassemble the diff before calling it a night, helping to pack up some of the gear, and getting home for some much-needed dinner. Looks like I'll need some new batteries, though.

to be continued...

Tuesday, 11th Jan

My New Year's resolution is in tatters. I've hit up Ebay in my lunchbreak, and ordered two hard-cased LiPos and a charging bag. From Apex I've ordered a Core RC LiPo charger, LiPo cut-off, servo Y-lead and transponder. I know the batteries will take a while to arrive, but the charger should at least give me a better indication of the state of my existing packs.

Friday, 14th Jan

No indication as to the status of my order from Apex. I was really hoping to have that charger for the weekend so I can cycle my NiMHs and see how they're charging. I also need the transponder for Monday, otherwise I'll get no timing data. (Interestingly, the club didn't print timing sheets for the Enduro event, so I couldn't compare my lap-times - although my racing was so beset by battery and handling problems that it would have been mostly useless anyway).

I'll have to charge my packs with the ACX-1 over the weekend and hope they don't dump early on Monday.

Sunday, 16th Jan

Decided to be a good boy and tidy up the junk in the lounge. Mostly, that involves emptying the TA05-IFS kit box of dead sprues, bagging and labelling the spare parts, and sticking it all in the workshop in the loft. Among the kit box I found an extra-long hex wrench. Aah, that'll be for the motor, then. Please disregard my comment about the TA05 having a fiddly motor mount - I must have taken the large wrench out of the bag and forgotten all about it!

I'm also trying to discharge my 4500 pack (the one that dumped after a couple of minutes during practice, but still reads fully charged on Darren's Core RC charger). I hooked it up to my stand-fan, but I think it'll take all day to discharge. I could wire it up to a spare silvercan but that means bodging up some wires. I don't have a car fitted with an MSC that I can leave with the wheels up for an hour.

Ooh, on the subject of charging, I've just found an email from Apex saying my package was despatced on Friday. Hopefully it'll arrive at my office on Monday, so I can hook up the transponder and y-lead before racing starts.

Hopefully, my next update will contain timing data. If the transponder arrives!

[terry.sc]

Sounds like typical old batteries that have been left a while. They will need a few cycles to bring them to life again, and you can't charge them up the day before and expect them to retain their capacity. Run a few cycles through them and top them up on the night to make sure you get the best out of them. Although with 2 lipos you'll never need the old cells again except for practising with.

Check the weight of the lipos against your other packs, you will find the lipos are lighter and the car has less chance of rolling over in right hand turns if you bring the weight on the battery side of the chassis up to match the left side. It's the biggest cause of handling problems when a chassis designed for cells is being run with lipos. Get some stick on 1/1 car wheel balance weights to stick on the chassis or battery, sticking them on the bottom of the lipo so they fit in between the battery slots also helps keep the weight low down.

[Mad Ax]

Thanks for the weight advice Terry, I'd not even considered that. Most of the touring car racers are now in LiPo, although a lot of them aren't using Tamiya chassis.

All of my NiMH packs are in bad shape, I haven't had as much time for bashing as I used to get, so they get charged and put away and then recharged before an event or day out. If I had a discharger then I'd cycle them a few times, but using the fan on the car stand is taking forever! (That said, I expect my last pack is discharged now, so time to unplug it before it goes too low and stick it on the ACX-1).

[Mad Ax]

Today's first update: a package from Apex arrived this morning, but I could tell straight away it wasn't big enough to contain my new Core RC charger. The despatch note says everything has been despated (as does the email I got on Friday) but there's a hand-written note on the despatch note to say my charger will be shipped "when they become available from our supplier." This is marginally annoying since a) I didn't bring my ACX-1 today, expecting to have my new charger delivered, and 2) the website clearly said "In Stock" when I submitted the order, which was the main reason I went with Apex in the first place...

Tonight may not be as enjoyable as I'd hoped if my packs won't last through a complete race (like last week :-/)

Fingers crossed, at least I'm not chasing championship points, so I can just have some fun.

[bensonboo]

Really enjoyable read, hope you keep updating.

Thanks.

[Mad Ax]

Thanks for the encouragement, Bensonboo - I wasn't sure if anyone would make it to the end of my opus!

Monday, 17th Jan - race night

Arrived a little later than last week, and set to fitting my new transponder and wiring up the motor fan while eating a pack of overpriced greasy fries from the local takeaway. Everything seemed to be working fine. Had a quick practice-blast, mostly to make sure the transponder was working, and the car handled great - nice and neutral with plenty of controllable slide around corners.

It was a fairly quite night, so the organisers lumped me into Heat 4 of 5 with the rest of the seniors.

RACE 1

Not much to say about the first race. I started in first place, and the car went well but was let down by my poor driving. I used with the 3000mAh stick pack that had got me through two races last week, but the speedo started cutting out towards the end of the race. The only real excitement came when I clipped a barrier and ended up on the wrong part of the track. I decided that if the car could jump the barrier in one direction, it could do it in the other, so I drove towards the barrier. Unfortunately all I succeeded in doing was destroying the track and causing a huge disruption for everybody else. I don't think I'll try that again.

I finished in last place, 6 laps down on the leaders and 2.2 seconds off my closest rival (who also finished 6 laps down). My fastest laptime was 13.3 seconds, just 1.2 seconds off the fastest car in the race and over a second quicker than my closest rival. Average laptime was 17.3, a fair way off the mode of 14.0 and the 12.9 average of the fastest car in my heat, but only .1 of a second from my closest rival. The Heat 5 seniors had fastest laptimes in the low 10s.

RACE 2

Both my side-by-side packs had failed to maintain a charge overnight. My "bench test" (quite literally putting the car on the workbench, holding the bumper so it won't shoot away and giving it full throttle) caused the ESC to shut down with both batteries. I could only hope that my 4500mAh Ansmann stick would hold up for two races.

Having finished last in the first race, I started last in race 2, and so had the track to myself for a while so I could work on control and smoothness. For anyone who's not raced before, finesse is worth more lap time than any upgrade you care to name, and I have to concentrate on keeping it out of the barriers more than chasing laptimes. A chance to be on my own for a few laps is gratefully received. I also kept in mind the fact that the other drivers are racing for championship position - I'm just racing for practice and setup feedback, so I made sure to keep out of the way of the others and not tangle with anyone.

It's interesting to see how races seem to unfold with the same pattern. Everyone remains fairly controlled and quick at the start, but crashes start to become more frequent at the mid-point. I benefit from others' mistakes on a few occasions, which puts me up into 4th place for the race finish. The battery holds up well, although towards the end of the race I notice a few stutters from the speedo.

I finish 4 laps off the leader, fastest lap up to 12.3 and average up to 15.1. The fastest lap was 11.5 from the winning car, with an average of 12.7.

RACE 3

Since I have only my already-dying Ansmann 4500 left to power me through another five minutes of racing, I don't hold much hope of having a good race. Things unfold pretty much as I expected. The ESC didn't cut out as often as I'd thought it would, but the car got gradually slower as the race unfolded. It may have been my frustration or lack of power to spin up the back end, but I started crashing a lot too. I was turning into corners too early (maybe because my speed was too low) and clipping the barriers, which usually bounced me into a bad position to take the bend. I had to recalibrate my brain for a lower corner entry speed, and drove a very steady and dull race.

The results sheet shows that my speed gradually slowed after the first third of the race. The fastest I could manage was a 13.6, with an average of 15.8, 4 laps off the leader. I came in 4th only because one of the other entrants failed to make the start of the race.

POST-RACE ANALYSIS

All-in-all, I'm not disappointed with my progress. My control is improving (although I still need a lot of practice), and the car itself performed very well. The car was clearly faster than two other cars down the fast straight, at least when the pack was providing full punch, but both cars beat mine in total laps and total average laptimes. My main focus for the next meeting is going to be staying on the track, and perhaps concentrating more on how I can improve control through tight sections - both of which require changes to my brain rather than my car. I also definately need those new packs!!

There's no race meeting next week, so you'll be spared another opus for a fortnight. This gives more time for my packs and charger to arrive, and more time for me to forget everything I've learned so far.

Will post when I have more news!!

[sosidge]

Sounds like you've got the right approach. Get some reliable batteries in the car and you'll be able to concentrate on the driving again.

I'm sure you know these racing mantras already...

"To finish first, first you must finish"

"Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance"

[Percymon]

Fascinating read, and an excellent insight for those contemplating a bit of club action. Battery issues aside at least you're in one piece !

Vapextech stick packs are quite good value, and go up to 5000mAh - i get 30 minutes run time on grass in a 4wd buggy with 540 motor, and not much less in one with a Ansmann clash 23T

[Taman]

+1 really enjoy reading this and you put enougth detail in that I can visualise the event

[Mad Ax]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I wasn't sure if people would be interested, especially since I tend to write long posts. I dream of being a magazine feature writer, and putting together articles like this is a way of pretending I've reached this dream

No updates today, still waiting on news from Apex re: the new battery charger.

[HomerJHandley]

you should get yourself a blog http://www.blogger.com

may be easier for you rather than posting on her?E

[Mad Ax]

Hey Homer, I seriously considered signing up for a blog, but I wasn't sure how long this was going to run for and how many people would be interested in reading. It seems lame to set up a blog that only gets 2 or 3 followers. Plus plenty of people (myself included) prefer to read just a few main forums and don't like to follow hundreds of blogs all over the web. I myself will often read a bunch of threads on TC during my lunchbreak, but don't follow links to blog sites because I never know what pop-ups these free blog site are going to open on my office screen

Anyhoo, no really interesting news. My LiPos have arrived, but still no word on the charger. It's too late to expect it before Monday's race, so I might have to see if I can find a local RC friend this weekend who can charge the packs for me so at least I can enjoy Monday's racing.

[digitrc]

Hey Homer, I seriously considered signing up for a blog, but I wasn't sure how long this was going to run for and how many people would be interested in reading. It seems lame to set up a blog that only gets 2 or 3 followers. Plus plenty of people (myself included) prefer to read just a few main forums and don't like to follow hundreds of blogs all over the web. I myself will often read a bunch of threads on TC during my lunchbreak, but don't follow links to blog sites because I never know what pop-ups these free blog site are going to open on my office screen

Anyhoo, no really interesting news. My LiPos have arrived, but still no word on the charger. It's too late to expect it before Monday's race, so I might have to see if I can find a local RC friend this weekend who can charge the packs for me so at least I can enjoy Monday's racing.

You could be waiting forever for that charger... don't let a back order get in the way of your racing! Hopefully there's still time to cancel that order with Apex and go down to the model shop in Bath to get yourself a LiPo charger. I'm sure they stock one, if not even the shops in Bristol stock LiPo chargers!

PS I guess from your race day and location that you go to the club at Melksham? You'd be very welcome at the club in Chippenham on Tuesday nights too, or at the CWIC series that Chippenham run at the leisure centre in Melksham (forgotten it's name for the moment).

[mike_o]

Didn't see your blog until now. Thanks for sharing - it's really nice, and made me laugh quite a few times. Please keep up the good work, both on the track and on the blog!

cheers

[Mad Ax]

A quick update from the weekend - I went to see my good friend Bag of Badgers on Saturday, and although it was too cold for bashing we at least had a good old banter and balanced my new LiPo packs. Thanks again Badger for a fun day and for all the LiPo advice

I also went to Swindon Model Centre (I hope that's the right name!) which is a real treasure-trove for RC nuts, a tiny little store but stacked to the ceiling with vintage and new Tamiya kits, hop-ups, spares, proper balsa planes, static plastic kits, and (most importantly) a huge stock of chargers and power supplies. So I came home Saturday evening with a good charger and PSU, so now I'm ready for racing tonight.

digitrc - I race with WWMCC on Mondays, which is really convenient for me as I work in the Melksham area (and also go to the Jive dancing club in the next building afterwards ). I might expand to other racing clubs later, but mostly depends on how much time I have available!

Bath Model Centre doesn't stock things like LiPo chargers these days, at least they've never had any when I've been in. I try to give them as much business as possible because the owner is a good guy and they've given me lots and lots of help and support over the years.

Tonight is race nice, so I'm all excited and can't wait for today's work to be over

[Taman]

Good to hear you got your charger, am looking fwd to your next post.

Have a great night

[Deanej10]

It would be good too see another Cider Basher at Chippenham

[Mad Ax]

Monday, 31st Jan

It was a busy night at the track. I was the first to arrive, but I only dropped off my kit box in the hall and then left to grab a burger at the Hungry Horse, which took longer than planned, and put me back at the track just as registration was about to close. I got in on the end of registration, paid my fees then unpacked my kit to get ready for the race. The organisers put me in Heat 4, with 3 other racers, with the number 2, which meant I'd be up front in the first heat.

I discovered that I had to space up the battery posts with a couple of washers to fit the new LiPo cases, but otherwise everything was going to plan. Then I put my best NiMH on charge, so I had something spare in case the LiPos started to drop off before the last race.

Race 1

The first round started well in terms of punch from the LiPo, but badly in terms of laptime. With stone-cold tyres (I hadn't got out in practice) and the extra LiPo power, I struggled to keep the car on the track. The rear end was way too loose, spinning 180 at almost every corner. On the second lap I clipped a barrier, and the car cut out. I though it was a sticking brush, but nothing could coax it into life. When the marshall returned it to me, the wheels were spinning slowly, even though I didn't have hold of the trigger. I adjusted the trim, but couldn't trim out the problem. For some unknown reason, the ESC had completely recallibrated itself!

A quick reset and I was back on the track, but I was already several laps down. Handling in the corners was tough, but I was getting used to pulling out of bends with the front wheels rather than relying on the rears to regain grip and push around. I had a few more barrier incidents that I wasn't too pleased with, and ended the race feeling a little disappointed in my own performance.

My fastest lap was 11.667 against the fastest lap of the heat (car 3, 10.785) and a slowest of 12.0. My average was 16.398, but discounting my 61 second lap where the ESC fooled over, my average was 13.8, still the slowest, but just a tenth off the next-fastest car.

My racing buddy Darren was out in the fast group immediately after my heat, but a broken suspension tower on his hopped-up HPI brushless beast put him out of action for the rest of the evening, so he kindly put his attention to getting more out of my TA05 with some helpful setup advice. We started by moving the rear shocks inwards by one upper mount, to see if it would improve rear traction.

I hooked up my second LiPo pack, but there was something wrong with the Deans connector that I'd soldered on Saturday, and it wouldn't make a reliable connection. Darren tried to repair it while I quickly re-charged my first pack, but it needed more heat than his soldering iron could provide, so we abandoned the pack. I'll have to fit a new Deans connector this week.

Race 2

Starting last gave me some breathing space to get the tyres warmed and my brain recalibrated. Handling was marginally better than the previous race, although I didn't expect big changes from a tiny adjustment. My fastest lap was only up by a fraction of a second over the previous race, and my average was 13.889, a few tenths off the 3rd place car at 13.693, who had given me some close and tense racing over the last few laps (and had been the winner of the first race). I also noticed that my ESC continued to cut out after impacts, especially towards the end of the race. I think I'll remove the Eco27 in favour of something a little better from my spares bin.

While marshalling after the race, I was paying close attention to the lines used by the fastest racers and how they were taking the fastest corners. It looked and sounded like they could use full throttle to power around the wider turns where my car was pirouetting out of control, and they could throw into the tight sections at speeds that would have (and did) put mine backwards into the barriers. I began to wonder if it was smoothness of drive or just better chassis that was allowing such traction. None of the top racers are using Tamiya chassis.

Back in the pits after my marshalling stint, I found my car looking somewhat different. Darren, devoid of functioning suspension for the night's racing, had liberated his car of its wheels and bolted them onto mine. I'd almost forgotten that I was still using the stock Tamiya slicks that came with the IFS chassis, and wasn't sure how much difference I could expect from fresh rubber. They had seen plenty of use, but they were Sorex 24s - the recommended tyre by most of the top members.

Race 3

I started in last place, but almost immediately caught up with the other cars. There had been a few tangles at the top end of the track, which held everybody up while I filtered past and set out into the lead. The new tyres were stunning. I couldn't have expected to get so much extra grip, but thinking about it, it's the most obvious place for improvement. It's what connects the car to the carpet, after all. I was having to drive around the problem of having a little too much grip - once the tyres got warm the car had a tendency to grip-roll - but that can probably be tuned out with suspension adjustments. I lost a lot of time after a minor off, when the car didn't start up straight away after being returned to the track, so the marshal picked it up and held it back for a while, putting me back in last place. When I got back on track the red mist descended, and I was struggling with control, until I managed to calm down.

It became a race of attrition. Race 1's winner retired early with problems, and the holder of the fastest laps in races 1 and 2 had power problems throughout. I had a few minor tangles with other cars, but for the first time I was seriously going for laptimes rather than keeping out of everyone's way. I had two incidents where I pushed another car (same car both times!) into the barrier, but on both occasions I was the faster car coming up against somebody with technical problems, so I didn't feel that I was at fault (and also felt lucky to have got away without getting my car stuck too).

At the end only two cars finished, mine a lap down on the winner. My fastest lap was recorded at 8.268, but since this is over a second faster than the fastest lap in the fast group, so we decided this must have been some kind of timing problem, and as my next lap was 6 seconds over my average, it was probably caused by hitting the timing strip by running wide on a returning corner. The fastest lap besides that was 10.62, with an average of 12.341. The winning car had an average of 10.444 with an average of 11.622.

Summary

I need new tyres!! This week's plan is to get some Sorex 24s ordered, along with some new Deanseses, so I can have both packs in operation and work out the grip-roll problem in the chassis.

Next week's race is an Endurance, which means no championship points, but since I'm not competing in the championship, it'll be the first time I'm actually racing seriously for track position since returning to the club. With my car finally reaching a competitive speed, this should make for an exciting evening.

Watch this space...

[Will16]

Just read the whole thing. Absolutly brilliant! Keep up the good work and carry on racin'!

[BeetleLover]

Can't wait for you to beat the teething problems with the new setup etc. Hope you sort your ESC especially... does it shutdown or thermal due to the high current of the lipo's?

James

[Mad Ax]

Hi James,

I'm not really sure what the problem is with the speedo. My racing buddy told me that the Eco27 has a tendency to thermal very easily, although I've yet to experience a total shut-down. I've got a few Eco27s and they've always been good for bashing, although the reverse delay is really annoying. Initially it was re-setting itself on hard acceleration, which was almost certainly down to drawing too much current from the old batteries and causing the voltage to drop below the minimum required by the ESC.

However, it now seems to get jittery around the mid-point of the race. It could be overheating, although it doesn't cut out for long - half a second or so, then it's fine for another lap. I'd have thought a thermal shutdown would last longer and be more of a continual problem as the unit gets hot and can't dissipate its heat.

The Eco27 was never intended to be used as a race speedo. I find it difficult to set up (all those flashing lights to indicate modes) and difficult to stick down - it seems there is no adhesive known to man that will stick to that slippery metal chassis. It's probably not that efficient either. I've got a few spare ESCs at home that will probably perform better in race conditions, so I'll bring a few along to next week's enduro and see what works best. Sadly I don't have any with a built-in LiPo cutoff, so that means yet more wires and things to roll around under my shell. There's very few places to stick such things down, even on the stock TA05 with its big tub area between the motor and the steering servo.

New tyres are ordered, but it was a busy week so I only got around to ordering them last night. I don't know if they'll arrive before Monday's race. If they don't then I'll be really tempted to take my M03 along to see how it handles in the enduro event. It could do with a service but it's got ball diff, alloy shocks and various other cool parts, and a lovely black Suzuki WagonRR shell that gets attention everywhere it goes

[Mad Ax]

Another race day dawns! So I can wile away my lunchbreak typing my pre-race update and eating my Tescos Light Choice Ham & Cheese Sandwich.

Yesterday's tasks included re-soldering the faulty Deans connector on my new LiPo, topping up the packs and swapping the Eco27 speedo for something a little more advanced.

The first task was relatively straightforward. My old Draper 100W instant-heat gun provided enough heat to melt the solder and remove the old plug, and a new one went straight on in its place (although the job wasn't too tidy - the gun seemed to be struggling to deliver enough heat).

The second job involved de-soldering the Ec027 from my Monster motor. Not a hugely difficult task, I thought, but I really struggled to get enough heat into the cured solder, even with the addition of some fresh stuff to help get the heat spread evenly. It came loose eventually, but only after several minutes of continuous heat, during while I was really worried that the motor itself might be cooking. Such continuous heat also overheated the soldering iron internals, and the gun casing began to deform in my hand, and smoke drifted from its vents. Not good.

I left the gun to cool down for a while as I tried to scrape off as much old solder as possible from the motor, then connected up my Ripmax Xtra No Limts ESC to make sure I soldered the wires on the right way round. The damage seemed already done though, as the iron refused to give out enough heat even to tin the wires after it had half-melted in my hands. Devoid of soldering iron, I had no choice but to revert temporarily to some Halfords crimp-on spade connectors, which aren't famous for handling high current very well.

However, this turned out to be a good thing, when I came to program the speedo. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to calibrate. I couldn't find the instructions, but I remember that BigWheels Inc. had a scan of the instruction sheet in his showroom, so I climbed down from my loft workshop and opened up TC. Step 1 of the instructions: switch the transmitter throttle channel to Reversed. Oh.

So, I'd connected the wires the wrong way round, thinking that forwards on the Tx would correspond to forward motion at the speedo. Because they weren't soldered, it was a simple task of swapping the spade connectors, and presto, the car was ready to run. Top Gear was about to start, and I still hadn't even started preparing my pork chops, so I put the LiPos on charge and packed the rest of the RC kit into the transport box ready for race day.

On to this morning, and my Sorex 24 tyres have arrived. I didn't order any inserts, as I'm not sure what inserts anyone is using, but I'm sure they'll be OK temporarily with the Tamiya inserts, if they can't be run empty. I actually think most members aren't using inserts at all, and they're available pre-glued with no inserts. I'll test them unglued tonight and see how they go.

The cost of RC racing has bitten again, because 30 minutes ago I ordered a new 100W iron, a proper one this time, not a silly instant-heat gun, as well as a new station, solder sucker and spare tips. It came to just over £20 with free postage, so not a bank-breaker, but I'll have to watch my RC spending doesn't get out of hand. I'm looking forward to building myself a nice little soldering area on my workbench if everything arrives before the weekend.

Tonight's race should be fun, plus I'm looking forward to a celebratory/consolatory (delete as appropriate) takeaway on the way home.

Watch this space for the outcome of tonight's racing!

[Kevin_Mc]

good luck for tonight! and enjoy your takeaway

i've enjoyed reading the blog posts so far

[HunterZero]

On to this morning, and my Sorex 24 tyres have arrived. I didn't order any inserts, as I'm not sure what inserts anyone is using, but I'm sure they'll be OK temporarily with the Tamiya inserts, if they can't be run empty. I actually think most members aren't using inserts at all, and they're available pre-glued with no inserts. I'll test them unglued tonight and see how they go.

<- Waits for the post about how the tires flew off the wheels because they weren't glued...

- James